Asuka
On August 22, 2015, Asuka attended WWE's NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn event in Brooklyn, New York, Rumours about her having signed with WWE were soon confirmed at a press conference on September 8 in Tokyo. She then joined WWE's developmental territory NXT. Her debut appearance, which aired on September 23, ended in a confrontation with Dana Brooke and Emma. In her debut match on October 7 at NXT TakeOver: Respect, Asuka defeated Dana. Asuka continued racking victories over various wrestlers, including main roster performer Cameron, and continued her feud with Dana Brooke and Emma. On December 16 at NXT TakeOver: London, Asuka defeated Emma. On the January 13, 2016 episode of NXT, Asuka participated in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for Bayley's NXT Women's Championship; she was eliminated second-to-last by Eva Marie. On the February 10 episode, battle royal winner Carmella lost her title match against Bayley. Asuka saved Carmella from a post-match attack by Eva Marie and Nia Jax and afterwards had a staredown with Bayley, indicating that she wanted a shot at her title. On April 1, Asuka defeated Bayley by technical submission to win the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: Dallas and successfully defended the title against Nia Jax on June 8 at NXT TakeOver: The End. Asuka then rekindled her feud with Bayley, whom she again defeated on August 20 at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II. After her successful title defense against Mickie James on November 19 at NXT TakeOver: Toronto, Asuka displayed the first signs of villainous behavior when she refused to shake her opponent's hand after the match. On the January 11, 2017 episode of NXT when Asuka was overpowered by The Iconic Duo (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce), Nikki Cross came to her rescue but then herself attacked Asuka. Asuka demanded to defend her title against all three and won the subsequent fatal four-way match on January 28 at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio. In early February, Asuka became the longest-reigning singles champion in NXT history, male or female. In March, Asuka wrestled on several house shows with WWE's main roster as a replacement for an injured Naomi, including a show at Madison Square Garden on March 12. Around this time, WWE began promoting Asuka's "undefeated streak since her arrival" in NXT. Asuka had never lost a match by submitting or being pinned, though she had come up short in the aforementioned battle royal in January 2016, a tag team match, and one fatal four-way match on NXT house shows in March and May 2016, respectively, when other wrestlers were pinned. In her successful title defense against Ember Moon on April 1, 2017 at NXT TakeOver: Orlando, Asuka again behaved like a villainess, shoving the referee into her opponent to avoid Moon's finishing maneuver (the Eclipse) en route to winning the match. Asuka also attacked Ember Moon, Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot, who were the final competitors in a battle royal to determine her challenger for NXT TakeOver: Chicago. Subsequently, Asuka had to defend her title against Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot in a triple threat match (Ember Moon missed out on the match due a shoulder injury), but she managed to retain her title at the event on June 20. In June, Asuka decisively defeated Nikki Cross in a Last Woman Standing match to retain her championship. During that time, she surpassed Goldberg's winning streak and Rockin' Robin's record-setting 502 day WWF Women's Championship reign. On August 19 at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, Asuka defeated the returning Ember Moon to retain her title. However, during the match she broke her right collarbone which forced her out of action for six to eight weeks, thus Asuka had to relinquish the NXT Women's Championship at the August 24 NXT tapings which aired on September 6, ending her reign at 510 days. During her farewell segment, NXT General Manager William Regal called her "one of the greatest champions in WWE history" and also mentioned negotiations to move Asuka to WWE's main roster. After multiple vignettes in the upcoming weeks, it was revealed on the September 11, 2017, episode of Raw, Asuka was assigned to the Raw brand. A month later, on October 22, at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Asuka defeated her old rival Emma in her in–ring debut. On November 19 at Survivor Series, Asuka represented Team Raw in a Survivor Series match against Team SmackDown and was the sole survivor, lastly eliminating Tamina and Natalya. Throughout the next few months, Asuka continued her streak by defeating the likes of Dana Brooke (whom she defeated in three seconds, setting a new WWE record for the fastest submission win in a women's match), Alicia Fox and Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss in a non–title match. On January 28, 2018 at the Royal Rumble, Asuka won the first women's Royal Rumble match, entering at number 25 and eliminating her former rival Ember Moon and lastly Nikki Bella to earn herself a women's championship match at WrestleMania 34. Throughout January and February, Asuka started a feud with Nia Jax, who attacked her during and before her matches and wanted her title opportunity at WrestleMania. Asuka defeated Nia Jax on February 25 at Elimination Chamber and again on the March 5 episode of Raw. In parallel, she also took a part of the Mixed Match Challenge tournament, with The Miz as her partner in support of the charity Rescue Dogs Rock. With wins over Carmella and Big E, Sasha Banks and Finn Bálor, Alexa Bliss and Braun Strowman and finally Charlotte Flair and Bobby Roode, they won the tournament. After Flair retained the SmackDown Women's Championship against Ruby Riott on March 11 at Fastlane, Asuka challenged Charlotte for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 34. At the event on April 8, Asuka submitted to Charlotte, ending her WWE undefeated streak at 914 days. On April 17, Asuka was drafted to SmackDown as part of the 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-up, making her first appearance by saving Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch from an attack by The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) and then—SmackDown Women's Champion Carmella. On the May 15 episode of SmackDown Live, Smackdown General Manager Paige interrupted Carmella, to announce that she would be defending the SmackDown Women's Championship against Asuka at Money in the Bank. At the event, on June 17, Asuka lost to Carmella after an interference from the returning James Ellsworth, suffering her first official pinfall loss in WWE. Paige then granted Asuka a rematch, that took place on July 15 at Extreme Rules, which Asuka lost as well after another distraction from Ellsworth, who was hanging above the ring in a shark cage, which Carmella used to win the match. In September, Asuka helped Naomi, who after defeating Peyton Royce was attacked by The IIconics. This led to a tag team match between the two teams on October 6 at WWE Super Show-Down, where Asuka and Naomi were defeated. Also during that time, it was announced that Asuka and The Miz would take part in the upcoming season two of Mixed Match Challenge. They would last until the semifinals, where they were eliminated by eventual winners R-Truth and Carmella. On November 18, Asuka took part in the Survivor Series as part of Team Smackdown, where she was the last woman eliminated on Team SmackDown. Towards the end of November, Asuka won a battle royal to enter her way into the first ever women's Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match against both Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship. On December 16, at the namesake event, in what was also the first ever women's championship match to main event a dual–branded event, Asuka won the SmackDown Women's Championship for the first time in her career after Ronda Rousey interfered and pushed Lynch and Flair off a ladder. In her first title defense, two days later, Asuka defeated fellow babyface Naomi. Throughout her reign, Asuka was able to fend off challengers such as Becky Lynch and Mandy Rose at the January and March pay-per-view events respectively. On the March 26 episode of SmackDown, Charlotte Flair defeated Asuka to win the SmackDown Women's Championship, ending her reign at 100 days. On the April 16th edition of SmackDown Live, it was announced that Asuka would be entering the WWE women’s tag team division, teaming with the newly debuted Kairi Sane from NXT as the Kabuki Warriors and being managed by Paige. In June, the Kabuki Warriors started a feud with the Women's Tag Team Champions, the IIconics whom they defeated in Tokyo. After weeks of dodging by the IIconics, the Kabuki Warriors were granted their title match on the July 16 episode of SmackDown which they won by count out. However, the IIconics retained their titles. On the August 5 episode of Raw, the Kabuki Warriors participated in a fatal four way elimination tag team match for the Women's Tag Team Championship but were the last ones eliminated by Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. After a short hiatus, The Kabuki Warriors returned in September and defeated Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. On October 6, at the Hell in a Cell pay–per–view, The Kabuki Warriors finally won the Women's Tag Team Championship from Bliss and Cross, after Asuka used a green mist on Cross. The next night on Raw, The Kabuki Warriors completed their transition into heels, as they cut a promo on both Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair and went onto defeat them in a non–title match, once again using green mist as leverage. As part of the 2019 Draft in mid-October, Asuka and Sane were both drafted to the Raw brand. The duo further solidified their heel turn after Asuka sprayed green mist on their manager Paige on the October 28, 2019 episode of Raw.Category:SmackDown Women's Champions Category:NXT Women's Champions Category:Royal Rumble Winners Category:WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Category:Current Champions Category:Raw Superstars